SEPTA officers shoot knife-wielding man at Upper Darby train station

UPPER DARBY — A knife-wielding township man who was allegedly coming at two SEPTA police officers inside the crowded 69th Street Terminal was shot by the officers after he ignored several orders to drop his weapon Wednesday night.

The man, identified as 55-year-old Mark Singer of Merion Trace Apartments, suffered “two or three wounds in the arm, shoulder and side,” and was listed in stable condition at Delaware County Memorial Hospital, Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said.

Noting the investigation was in its preliminary stages, Chitwood said initial information pointed to a situation of an attempted “suicide by cop.”

“After he comes at the officers, what he says is he wishes they had shot him in the heart and killed him,” Chitwood said.

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As for the SEPTA officers, Chitwood said, “The shooting looks good … the officers are in fear of their lives. They did what they had to do. No one else got hurt.”

The SEPTA officers, a man and a woman who were not identified, were on routine patrol when the incident began to unfold at about 8 p.m., a typically busy time inside the terminal, according to Chitwood.

“They see a guy coming toward them wielding a knife. He is coming directly at them,” Chitwood said. “They tell him to drop the knife. He keeps coming at them.”

Both officers drew their weapons. One fired three shots; the other fired one, Chitwood said.

According to Chitwood, Singer appears to have had only one previous run-in with the law. Charged with harassment and stalking in 1996, he pleaded guilty to harassment and was placed on probation.